I checked Doug Stanhope's latest special and came away feeling like the most robust canary in the coalmine is dead from the gasses. The guy has always made a habit of the most tasteless, debauched, degenerate, mean-spirited comedy, but usually tended to do it in a way that was cutting and critical enough that there was a Bill Hicks-like sense of journey and message. I thought the last few years might be a goldmine of fodder for him. Instead there was nothing and he made a point of saying at the start that he was going to steer away from joking about the stuff on everyone's mind, or in other words he was going to keep shit safely pointless and tasteless.

In the special, there was literally just an anecdote of 'I walked into a barbershop full of black guys and was scared - but they were really cool!' type babble, with no real joke in it anywhere. He follows it up by saying 'To any racists out there - I'm not your buddy!', then tries to pretend that his ageist prejudices are as unfashionable as racism is.

This from a guy who jokes about dead kids all the time. 'I'll say the nastiest things about the most defenceless, shit-on people in the world - but please don't think I'm a racist!' Never thought I'd see the day when Doug Stanhope of all people snuck in some virtue signalling. Strong and pathetic Frankie Boyle vibes.

The most I've laughed recently was watching To Be or Not to Be from 1942. And this from a former Stanhope fan.

I checked Doug Stanhope's latest special and came away feeling like the most robust canary in the coalmine is dead from the gasses. The guy has always made a habit of the most tasteless, debauched, degenerate, mean-spirited comedy, but usually tended to do it in a way that was cutting and critical enough that there was a Bill Hicks-like sense of journey and message. I thought the last few years might be a goldmine of fodder for him. Instead there was nothing and he made a point of saying at the start that he was going to steer away from joking about the stuff on everyone's mind, or in other words he was going to keep shit safely pointless and tasteless.

In the special, there was literally just an anecdote of 'I walked into a barbershop full of black guys and was scared - but they were really cool!' type anecdote, with no real joke in it anywhere. He follows it up by saying 'To any racists out there - I'm not your buddy!', then tries to pretend that his ageist prejudices are as unfashionable as racism is.

This from a guy who jokes about dead kids all the time. 'I'll say the nastiest things about the most defenceless, shit-on people in the world - but please don't think I'm a racist!' Never thought I'd see the day when Doug Stanhope of all people snuck in some virtue signalling. Strong and pathetic Frankie Boyle vibes.

The most I've laughed recently was watching To Be or Not to Be from 1942. And this from a former Stanhope fan.

I checked Doug Stanhope's latest special and came away feeling like the most robust canary in the coalmine is dead from the gasses. The guy has always made a habit of the most tasteless, debauched, degenerate, mean-spirited comedy, but usually tended to do it in a way that was cutting and critical enough that there was a Bill Hicks-like sense of journey and message. I thought the last few years might be a goldmine of fodder for him. Instead there was nothing and he made a point of saying at the start that he was going to steer away from joking about the stuff on everyone's mind, or in other words he was going to keep shit safely pointless and tasteless.

In the special, there was literally just an anecdote of 'I walked into a barbershop full of black guys and was scared - but they were really cool!' type anecdote, with no real joke in it anywhere. He follows it up by saying 'To any racists out there - I'm not your buddy!', then tries to pretend that his ageist prejudices are as unfashionable as racism is.

This from a guy who jokes about dead kids all the time. 'I'll say the nastiest things about the most defenceless, shit-on people in the world - but please don't think I'm a racist!' Never thought I'd see the day when Doug Stanhope of all people snuck in some virtue signalling. Strong and pathetic Frankie Boyle vibes.